Yeah, the tail is going to be a bit of an engineering challenge given that it's quite long, pretty bulky and I really don't want it just trailing on the ground looking dead, that's something I see on suits far too often.

My plan at this point is to have a semi-rigid foam core (hence the purchase of the pipe insulation) which I'll partly split into segments to give it more lateral flexibility with some strategically placed bracing to help get roughly the curve I want. Along the centre of that I'm going to have a wire fastened at the tip and waistband on which I can adjust the tension, the aim being to have it at rest just "floating" clear of the ground. Easy then to keep it moving with only a tiny amount of body movement. It'll inevitably have quite a bit of weight to it which should help both with that and to ensure it smoothly follows my motion when walking rather than bouncing around completely erratically.